The Development of the Letterbox

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main methods for delivering correspondence; senders could be necessitated to get their mail to some Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post through the community. In order to distinguish himself, and also to make his presence known, the Bellman has on a uniform and ring a bell.
It was at 1852 that the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, having a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to try out the new system.
The success from the experiment generated an additional four being attached to Guernsey, info now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland as of 1853.
However, there was clearly as yet no universal pillar box design that we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was at the discretion of local authorities, also it was at 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits had become the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the main included here the addition of the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, this area would have been to be available in 2 sizes; a bigger and wider size for highly populated areas, plus a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes would not receive universal acclaim. It was against the backdrop of these criticism how the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to generate another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this was not really a huge success therefore, another design were only available in 1879. This final design is the one with which we're familiar with today. It was a couple of years before this that this iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time, the most well-liked colour option was green to be able to blend in with all the green British pastures. However, after having a barrage of complaints how the structures were to challenging to locate this can camouflage, it turned out agreed that bright red was the best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately 10 years.
For the population at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail with ease. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, people were afforded access to a delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.

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